A Maryland college district legislation that forbids families from excluding their youthful K-5 children from gender identity and gender was upheld on Wednesday by a federal prosecutor.
Federal judges upheld a lower court’s decision in a 2- 1 board decision made by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in a March 2023 decision by the board of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). A lot opinion was written by Judge G. Steven Agee, a nominee for President George W. Bush, in which the majority of parents argued that the plan violated their right to direct their son’s education and the free exercise of their faith.
We do n’t know whether the Parents will be able to provide sufficient evidence to support any of their various theories once they have the opportunity to establish the facts surrounding the Board’s decision and how the challenged texts are actually being used in schools, Agee wrote.
” At this first stage, yet, given the Parents ‘ wide says, the very high burden required to obtain a preliminary order, and the scant history before us, we are constrained to affirm the district court’s order denying a preliminary order”.
The parents of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian children, who were represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, argued that the state’s unwillingness to let their young children choose to not read or participate in the education violated their right to raise their children according to their beliefs and how their religion defines personality and gender. Additionally, parents claimed that the content is inappropriate for such young students.
Book titles integrated into the K- 5 curriculum include The Pride Puppy, Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, and Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope. The book The Pride Puppy— which is” the sole test expressly approved for use in pre- Kindergarten and Head Start classrooms” — invited” the three and four- year- old audience … to look for items such as” ]drag] king,”” leather,”” lip ring,” “]drag] queen, “and” underwear,” the judge’s opinion notes.
Children’s books with LGBTQ content are displayed at the annual Pride Town Hall at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda, MD, May 21, 2022. ( Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post via Getty Images )
Parents also pointed out that the district had provided guidance to teacher’s and staff on how to redirect concerns about the pro- LGBTQ+ content , and questions from students.
The order details:
The guidance also counsels that if a student says that” a girl… can only like boys because she’s a girl,” the teacher can” ]d ] isrupt the either/or thinking by saying something like: actually, people of any gender can like whoever they like…. How do you think it would make _ _ ( character’s name ) _ _ to hear you say that? Do you believe that our choices regarding who we can and cannot like are fair?
Even so, the panel ultimately decided that the opinion should be read as a result of the panel’s ruling that “merely hearing about other views does not necessarily impose pressure on one to believe or act differently than their religious faith requires.”
Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr., who was appointed by , former President Donald Trump, wrote a dissenting opinion saying he would have overturned the district court ruling and blocked the school district’s policy.
The parents have demonstrated that the board’s decision to deny religious opt-outs burdened these parents ‘ right to choose their religion and direct the religious education of their children, choosing to compromise or choose to leave a public education, according to Quattlebaum.
Amanda Darrow, director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books that have been the subject of complaints from parents in recent weeks on Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021, in Salt Lake City. ( AP Photo/Rick Bowmer )
” I also find that the board’s actions, at least under this record, were neither neutral nor generally applicable. Finally, I find the parents have established the other requirements for a preliminary injunction. Therefore, I would reverse the district court’s ruling and forbid the Montgomery County School Board of Education from outlawing religious opt-outs for instruction in K-5 students involving the texts, he added.  ,
He added:  ,
And I disagree with the majority’s claim that the parents ‘ lack of proof that their free exercise rights have been burdened is unacceptable. The parents have met their burden. No one disputes that they have created the books that will be used to instruct their K- 5 children. They created declarations that en detail how the books conflict with their religious convictions. They have created the board’s own internal documents that show how it responds to parents and students who question the books ‘ content.
” These parents ‘ faith dictates that they—not others—teach their children about sex, human sexuality, gender and family life. According to him, their religions command that they shield their children from teachings that disapprove and denigrate their religious beliefs on those subjects. And regardless of how you slice it, the board’s decision to forbid religious opt-outs prevents parents from practicing these virtues if they want their children to receive public education. ”  ,
The parents are disappointed with the decision, according to Eric Baxter, a senior counsel and vice president at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, on Fox 5 DC . He noted that parents only want the option for their young children to opt out of the books being removed from schools.
” We understand that there are different parents who have different perspectives,” Baxter said”. However, all parents should have the right to choose whether or not their child should be in the classroom in those circumstances and to take their child out of the classroom. And I believe that every Montgomery County resident can agree with me.
Baxter stated that they intend to take the case on appeal to the Supreme Court.
The case is Mahmoud v. McKnight, No. No. 23- 1890 U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  ,
Katherine Hamilton covers politics for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X , @thekat_hamilton.
